Course stick



April 6, 1943.

rcz. G. DjAMA'ro y COURSE STICK Filed July' 5, 1940 Patented Apr. 6, 1943 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE My invention relates to a new and useful course stick and has for one of its objects -to provide a device of this character including a foldable stick consisting of sections of preselected length pivoted to one another, said stick adapted to be connected to a pin for mounting the stick in position for use.

Another object of the invention is to construct a pin of unique form including a. shank to which the stick is detachably connected and a nose for placement on a supporting surf-ace, such as one course of bricks, for determining the position of succeeding courses.

A further object of this invention is to provide means for determining the heights of courses of bricks, stones, tiles, cement blocks and similar objects, consisting of a supporting pin and a foldable stick composed of a plurality of sections all of the same length pivoted to one another, said stick being detachably fastened to said supporting pin.

To lay bricks, stones, tiles, cement blocks and similar articles for erecting walls of buildings, monuments and the like they require both bed and cross joints of mortar. When there is no stationary object on which to mark the spaces of the courses it is diilcult to make the bed or cross joint of mortar uniform thickness in order to provide the necessary number of courses to erect a wall the proper height or length to exactly occupy the space available. The thickness of a bed or cross joint or mortar to lay courses is from one-sixteenth of an inch up and by the use of a course stick constructed in accordance with my invention having sections of preselected length, the above enumerated difficulties are overcome and a wall erected to occupy the exact space available as to height and width.

With the above and other objects in View, this invention consists of the details of construction and combination of elements hereinafter set forth and then designated by the claims.

In order that those skilled in the art to which this invention apper-tains may understand how to make and use the same I will describe its construction in detail, referring by numerals to the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the course stick and its supporting pin.

Fig. 2 is a similar view of a portion of the course stick and its pin and reverse to the showing in Fig. 1.

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are views illustrating the use of the course stick.

In carrying out the invention as herein embodied, II) represents the course stick composed of any desirable number of similar sections Il, all of the same length in one course stick, pivoted to one another at I2 so that said sections may be swung laterally for folding purposes. The outer ends of both end sections have at least two holes I3 for connecting together the course stick and a. supporting pin to be described below.

This supporting pin I4 consists of a shank I5 and a. nose I6 at right angles to each other and said nose is tapered as plainly shown in Figs. 1 and 2. At least two fastening devices I'I project from the back face of the shank of the supporting pin and said fastening devices may be fixed to the supporting pin or passed through holes in the shank. In any case, said fastening devices are spaced to correspond to the spacing of the holes I3 and threaded to receive nuts I8, preferably of the butteriiy type, for connecting together a course stick and the supporting pin.

In practice, the height and width of the space in which a Wall is to be erected is first measured and then a guide table can be consulted or the number of courses computed that will exactly lill the space. This Will indicate the height or width of each course and the dimensions of the mortar bed. With this information the course stick having sections equal to the dimensions ascertained is selected and the first course, for example, is measured from the top surface of the foundation I9 by placing an end of one of the sections against said top surface and the space between said end of the section and the adjacent end of the next or other sections while positioned longitudinally will determine the location of the top surface of the rst course 2l) of bricks, for instance, including the mortar 2I as shown in Fig. 3.

After the first course has been laid, the supporting pin I4 and course stick I0 are connected together, as above stated, and the nose of said supporting pin engaged on the top of the rst course and a bed of mortar 22 and the second course 23 of bricks laid so the top corresponds to the height of the end of the section of the stick opposite to that attached to the supporting pin, as in Fig. 4.

Thereafer, by unfolding the stick as the third course 24 and succeeding courses are laid, the proper location of each course is indicated by the outer, upper or leading end of each succeeding stick section as it is unfolded, as shown in Fig. 5.

The stick to be used will be one that has sections of the proper length to exactly reach the height or width of the space in which the wall is to be erected or multiples thereof, so there are a number of sticks each having sections of a different length from the sections of all other sticks.

Of course I do not Wish to be limited to the exact details of construction herein shown and described, as these may be varied within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and useful is: Y

1. A course stick comprising a plurality of sections pivoted to each other with their flat faces opposed whereby they may be swung transversely relative to one another in either direction, a supporting pin consisting of a shank and nose at right angles to each other, said nose being tapered, and means for screwing the pin to a pre'- selected end section so that the shank rests against a at face of the preselected end section opposite thaton which other sections may fold with the nose projecting outward therefrom.

2. In a course stick, a supporting pin comprising a shank and nose at right angles to each other, said nose adapted to be placed between contiguous courses of building blocks, bricks and the like, a plurality of stick sections pivoted to each other with their flat faces opposed so that they may be swung transversely relative to one another, and means to screw either endmost section to the shank of the supporting pin whereby as said sections are unfolded progressively the end of each section farthest removed from the pin nose corresponds to the preselected height of a desired course.

CELESTINO G. DAMATO. 

